The growth rate of the telecoms sector in China appears to be slowing down, according to the Ministry of Information Industry. Total revenues for the sector in the first nine months of 2001 reached Yn257.5bn, 12.5 per cent higher than in the same period of 2000. This compares with a 25 per cent growth rate in the first six months of 2001. Mobile phone operators enjoyed the highest growth rates – China Mobile’s revenues grew by 19.6 per cent in the nine-month period, while those of China Unicom rose by 53 per cent.
Investment in the telecoms sector also slowed down in the third quarter of 2001, according to a report published on the CCIDnet.com website. In the third quarter, investment by the three biggest network operators, China Telecom, China Mobile and China Unicom, totalled Yn61bn, 6 per cent down from the previous quarter.